


Nova

by AnaliseGrey



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Magical Theory, Nott is best goblin mom, Starvation, Worldbuilding, hunger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 08:40:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17301449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnaliseGrey/pseuds/AnaliseGrey
Summary: Nott learns a lot from Caleb.She learns not all humans are mean and terrible. She learns humans sometimes treat other humans the same way they treat goblins (that makes her really mad for some reason).And she learns that using magic can make youreallyhungry.





	Nova

Nott learns a lot from Caleb.

She learns not all humans are mean and terrible. She learns humans sometimes treat other humans the same way they treat goblins (that makes her really mad for some reason).

And she learns that using magic can make you  _ really  _ hungry.

She doesn’t know Caleb’s a caster for several weeks after they first meet, doesn’t find out in fact until Winter’s Crest. One of the local temples has provided special rations for the prisoners of the small jail they’re being held in, and Nott barely spares a moment to appreciate it before she’s devouring her share. Caleb goes at a slower pace, but by the time they’re finished there’s not a crumb left to be seen on either of their plates. Nott is just starting to nod off into a doze, full for the first in months, definitely for the first time since before she arrived here, when Caleb’s voice calls softly across the cell.

“Nott, do you wish to see a trick?”

She cracks an eye open. “What kind of trick?”

Caleb smiles, a spark entering his eyes she hasn’t seen before. “A  _ magic  _ trick.”

Before she can answer, he’s snapping his fingers, and with a quiet  _ pop  _ there’s a small cat in the cell with them. Nott barely suppresses a squeak of surprise and scrambles up to her feet, hissing in a whisper, “What the  _ hell _ ?!”

Caleb falls back against the wall, looking pleased with himself. “This is Frumpkin, my familiar.” The cat, Frumpkin, picks his way across the floor and climbs into Caleb’s lap, curling into a ball and purring contentedly as Caleb pets him. “I haven’t been able to summon him in awhile, so, I thought it would be nice. And good for you to meet him.”

“Summon...you can do  _ magic _ ?”

A complicated expression flits across Caleb’s face, and he tilts his head down to look at Frumpkin. “Sometimes, yes.”

The next week at the jail is difficult. The guards are bored, annoyed they have to spend the holiday season watching the prisoners, and they aren’t shy about taking it out on them. Caleb’s been getting thinner, they both have, the positive effects of the Winter’s Crest meal long gone; when Nott suggests they think of a way to get out, Caleb agrees.

Two days later, they make their escape, Caleb setting fire to the jail after Nott picks the lock on their door, and they walk out together, the jailers having run off. They make their way south, stealing what they need as they go, and while food is sometimes even more scarce than it was in the jail, at least they’re free.

They travel together for weeks, and Nott thinks she’s starting to see a pattern emerge, but she doesn’t know what it means. Caleb uses his magic more, to start fires, to protect them if people get mean, or animals get too close, but he’s always tired, more so after casting, though he never complains. Nott asks him once if the magic makes him sick, and he shakes his head with a weary smile, and says, ‘no’.

It’s not until he’s teaching her magic, until she finally,  _ finally _ , manages to cast Message for the first time, that she gets it.

They’re sitting quietly in a corner booth at the inn, their new companions off running errands or chatting at the bar when Nott broaches the subject.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what,  _ spatz _ ?” Caleb doesn’t look up from his book, but she can tell his attention has refocused toward her.

“That you were always hungry.”

Caleb pauses in the motion of turning a page, and marks his place in the book before setting it down on the table. “We were both always hungry, Nott. But this, now, is better,  _ ja _ ?”

She narrows her eyes at him, and is gratified to see him squirm slightly. “Yes, this is better, and I  _ know  _ we were both hungry, Caleb, but I meant when you were casting. It was worse for you, wasn’t it, after using your magic.”

He reaches up to scritch Frumpkin’s chin where the cat is draped across his shoulders. “Magic users expend a lot of energy in the course of their work, Nott. It’s a risk we take to do what we do. For most casters, it’s not an issue. Casters like Jester, who use divine magic, their gods protect them from the worst of it. Sorcerers and druids are the same, the magic comes from within them, fueled either by their bloodlines or by nature itself. But wizards, we must harness magic from an outside source, without help, and that is more difficult. We are not inherently magic, so we draw the magic in by force, and that is...taxing. Moreso if you are malnourished.”

“Caleb, you should have  _ said  _ something. We- we could have  _ done  _ something about it.  _ I _ could have done something about it.”

Caleb turns on the bench seat to face her, and lets his hands rest lightly on her shoulders. “Nott, we were already doing everything we could. We were stretched so very thin as it was, taking any more risks than the ones we did could have had grave consequences. You understand that you are important to me,  _ ja _ ? I did not want to see you put yourself at any further risk unnecessarily.”

She frowns up at him. “It wasn’t  _ unnecessary _ , Caleb, it was  _ you _ .”

His face does the weird twisty thing it sometimes does, like he’s bitten into a lemon. “It was not worth the extra risk,  _ spatz _ . I made it through alright; we both did. Things are better now, and we are with a group. Groups take care of each other, we won’t have to worry as much. Won’t that be nice?”

Nott nods, her frown not quite gone. “Yeah, it’ll be nice. They all seem alright.”

Satisfied, Caleb turns back toward the table, picking up his book again.

“I’m sorry, Caleb, I- I always steal food from your plate, I didn’t know. I won’t do that anymore.”

He pauses in opening his book, and smiles warmly at her. “It’s alright, Nott. You’re a growing girl, and now you’re a caster as well.” The last part is stated proudly, and she tries not to preen in the glow the words impart. “We help each other. That is how this works. Take what you need, alright?”

She hums a noise, though it isn’t exactly an assent; it’s good enough for him, though, and he turns back to his book, getting lost once again in the words.

She settles next to him, leaning against Caleb’s side where he absently puts an arm around her, and she thinks. She hasn’t been taking as good care of her boy as she thought she had, but there’s nothing she can do about it now but learn from it. Even when he doesn’t mean to, Caleb is teaching her things, the clever boy.

She’ll have to be more watchful in the future, make sure he’s actually eating the food she puts in front of him instead of letting other people steal it. He’s so easily distracted, her Caleb, by his books, by his cat, by his own mind, but that’s alright. She’ll be paying attention, watching out for him, even if he isn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> I had the idea awhile back that casting magic comes at a cost other than just available spell slots- the idea that harnessing and using magic takes up a LOT of energy, and that if it isn't mitigated in some way, or fueled properly the user could burn out. In the case of a Wizard, someone like Caleb, they could either cease to be able to cast at all, or waste away. This fic is the result of that concept.
> 
> _spatz_ \- sparrow
> 
> If you feel like yelling about Critical Role, flailing, or just saying hi, come find me on tumblr at [Analisegrey](http://analisegrey.tumblr.com/), or on twitter at the same handle!


End file.
